


Finding Each Other

by HPFanNate



Series: Opposites Attract [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-26
Updated: 2016-06-26
Packaged: 2018-07-18 08:40:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7308013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HPFanNate/pseuds/HPFanNate





	Finding Each Other

Kneeling down, blinking the sweat out of his eyes, he picked up some soil and ran it through his fingers. He considered a moment, then added just a touch of water. He picked up some more soil and again ran it through his fingers. He considered, then smiled.  
“Perfect.”  
He jumped when he heard his Gran calling for him – rather loudly. He sighed, double checked the plants and soil one more time, and then went inside.

“Just a mo Gran,” he called out to her, dashing upstairs to take a quick shower, comb his hair, and change clothes. He fingered a necklace that he’d had, or so he’d been told, since his birth. It had a small, plain crown, half in a mix of red & gold, and half in a mix of green & silver, separated by a line of red blood. He had a second one, this a small dragon with a pointed face, paler than the rest of the body and a light gold, almost blonde, body. He smiled and put them both on, then headed downstairs. “Ready Gran.”  
Taking a handful of floo powder he tossed it into the fireplace.  
“Diagon Alley!”  
Quickly, he was spinning and turning, eventually sliding out of a fireplace in Diagon Alley. He helped his Gran up when she arrived, and dusted himself – and his Gran – off. Sometimes he showed hints of not being quite so timid. That is, until Gran eyed him as only she could. She always brought out his timid side. Staring at him, she pointed, “Let’s get your school books first.”  
“Yes Gran. Let me check my book list”  
It read:  
The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 by Miranda Goshawk  
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot  
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling  
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch  
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore  
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger  
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander  
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble  
They went into Flourish and Blotts, where the proprietor helped them find the books he needed for school. He managed to talk Gran into buying an extra book and flipped through it as they headed back outside. Gran followed his glance towards Ollivander’s, shaking her head.  
“I’m sorry but you know my answer on getting a wand, and that’s not right now. You have a wand already. I know it’s a hand me down, but it seems to work out just fine for you, and there is not a whole lot of extra money to buy you one of your own. So the answer hasn’t changed, nor will it. You will use the wand you already have Neville. Don’t ask me again for a different wand.”  
Neville sighed and wanted to try and persuade Gran, but he knew her better than that. He just nodded and accepted what she said.  
“Yes Gran.”   
They went into the various shops to purchase the necessary supplies for school, not taking very long because Gran was a quick shopper. She went in, they got what they needed, and they got out. Going into Magical Menagerie, he looked around to see what he might like to get. He was sure he’d want a cat or an owl, but as he looked around, he kept returning to a small toad sitting in an aquarium. Kneeling, he lifted it out and held it up, grinning. The frog croaked and he giggled, gently stroking its back.   
“Gran? I’ve decided.”  
Augusta was long since used to her grandson’s idiosyncrasies, and just nodded and paid for the toad, food for it, and an aquarium to put it in, and some plants for the aquarium. Neville smiled broadly.  
“Thanks Gran.”  
Neville headed towards the exit, unaware of being watched. Across the shop, where the owls were, a boy watched quietly, ignoring his parents, which was unusual for him. He smiled a bit as he watched Neville exiting the shop. Neville didn’t know it, but the boy watching him thought Neville was very good looking. That would’ve come as a surprise to Neville, because he had very few friends, and no one, other than Gran, had ever told him he was good looking. They finished their shopping, made another stop at Gringotts, and then flooed back home. Neville looked through some of his books, though not for any length of time, as it got closer to time to go to Hogwarts. The one book he did look through more than the other books was his Herbology book. That was probably his favorite subject, and he was pretty passionate about it. It was helpful, too, with his garden, though he had done a good job with it and didn’t need to do too much more than what he’d already done.   
About a week or so prior to the start of school he was once again outside in his garden, sweating hard, but thoroughly enjoying himself. As he once again checked the moisture content of the soil, he suddenly paused, looking around. He had thought he heard something and it felt like someone was watching him. He didn’t see anything at the moment, however, and frowned to himself. He looked all around, but saw nothing and no one out of the ordinary.   
Not far away, his admirer was breathing a huge sigh of relief, having ducked down just in time. It’s not that he would’ve had a problem being seen, but for the moment, he didn’t have any idea how to talk to Neville and let him know how he felt. He continued to watch until he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was his father. Nothing was said, but he stood and followed his father, and they headed back the way that he, at least, had come: through a Muggle bar, that secretly had an unplottable but abandoned wizard house behind it, where they flooed back to their home.   
Neville jumped as his gran called to him. He shook his head, realizing the time, and dashed in, washing his hands and face, and hurrying downstairs to dinner. 

“Sorry gran. I’m here and ready to eat.”  
Gran nods and, while she doesn’t show any emotion, she does reply, “I knew you would not miss a meal Neville. So I wasn’t really worried.” It wasn’t a joke or an attempt to be funny. It was a statement of fact, at least as she saw it. “Neville? I need some help with a potion again. Just for a brief moment.” What it actually was, was her helping him work on his magic. She knew he thought things he had been doing was actually her doing it, but they were actually him doing nonverbal magic. She didn’t know why she didn’t tell him it was him doing it, aside from her desire for him to avoid getting a big head, becoming cocky or arrogant. They were part of a pretty powerful magical family, but the last thing she cared to do, or have Neville do, was to act like it made them better than others, to use that to mistreat others, as she knew some magical families had a tendency to do.   
“Aww gran,” Neville sighed heavily, “I am not much help anyway, not really. So what’s the point?”  
Gran sighed. She knew he was lacking in self-confidence, and she realized some of that, a lot of that was her own fault, “Neville? You help me more than you realize. I know you don’t want to believe me about that, but it is quite true. I, truly, could not do it without your help. It’s not one that will take much time either, and you are welcome to do whatever you would like after that.”  
“Alright Gran,” Neville nodded. He wouldn’t go against Gran, anyway, and if it really wouldn’t take that long, then it wasn’t such a big deal anyway. Neville didn’t actually mind helping Gran out all that much, but, it felt somewhat like a chore to him, and he, like most kids, would rather not do chores of any kind.  
There wasn’t a lot of talk during dinner, but neither of them needed for there to be. Neville was nervous around Gran, something pretty common in just about everyone they knew, but dinner with her was comfortable and relaxing. And, he had to admit, helping her in the evenings had become pretty relaxing as well. He smiled some when Gran finished first, as usual, mainly because he ate a lot and almost always had seconds, at least. Tonight he had seconds, though a smaller portion than normal. Gran had made a very nice, but very filling, meal. Neville watched as Gran waved her wand and the plates flew up, the sink turned on, and the plates and other dishes washed themselves. He thought in his head that it would be much easier if she used ‘scourgify’. As he thought that, the dishes almost instantly cleaned themselves up and then put themselves in the drying rack.   
“I’m going to get the potion started Neville,” Gran spoke up as she left the room. Neville washed and dried his hands, then picked up his wand, having set it down to wash his hands. He headed out of the room and found Gran getting the potion ingredients together.   
“What first Gran?” Neville asked, thinking that she should have already said ‘incendio’ to light a fire under the cauldron. But at just about that moment, a fire sprang up under it.   
Gran nodded and indicated some of the ingredients that came from plants, “You love herbology and taking care of plants Neville. Go ahead and figure out what to do to have them ready for the potion.”  
“Yes Gran,” Neville said with a smile, appreciating the compliment. He did love herbology and he was glad that Gran recognized that. He studied the plants for a few moments and reminded himself of what their uses for, then prepared them. He waited until Gran indicated to add the ingredients and eventually they had all of them in the cauldron, which was churning and bubbling. It needed to be stirred though, both to mix the ingredients, and to keep it from bubbling over, as it was very close to doing. “Gran?”  
“Yes Neville?” Gran asked, with a glance in his direction.  
Neville started to speak but then stopped. He didn’t want to contradict Gran. She was quite smart and a very prodigious witch, and he was – or thought he was – not much of a wizard. He was going to ask about stirring the potion, wondering why she hadn’t said ‘stiren’ yet. He had set his wand on the cauldron and it was closest to both of them, so it was the wand that slid into the potion and began to stir it. He continued to watch as it stirred itself and Gran added some stuff. Finally, it stopped, an interesting purple color.  
“Thank you Neville. It’s perfect,” Gran said, with a nod in his direction, which, for her, was as close to a indication that she was proud of him as he generally received. Neville gave Gran a tight hug then left the room, not asking about the potion. He never asked about the potions, knowing that Gran would tell him about them if he needed to know about them, and even then, not until she was ready.   
Heading out to his garden in the back, he was silent and thoughtful. He knew the route very well, so there was no danger of him running into anything. He was so unaware, he didn’t hear the sound from the patio, or see the movement. The boy out there had been watching Neville and his Gran working on the potion, and was amazed by both of them. He could see what Neville’s Gran had seen and knew that Neville was a really good wizard, though he didn’t realize Neville didn’t think so. Lost so much in thought, he didn’t realize that Neville had left the room until he heard the back door open. People who knew him would not believe he was scared or at a loss for words. But he was, though he was scared of how Neville would react, not of Neville himself.   
Neville paused when he saw the boy, momentarily speechless himself. He knew who the boy was and had heard a great deal about the boy and his family. He never thought he’d think this way, but the moment he looked at him, looked into those eyes, he knew he was in love. To him, those beautiful grey eyes that everyone said were cold, were filled with warmth. And he knew, knew without asking, that the other boy felt the same way. He had his wand at his side, pointed away from him. Too bad, he thought to himself, I’m not a strong enough wizard to use colloportus on the door. There was a click as the door locked, but neither he nor the other boy heard it.   
“Neville…” the blonde boy said softly, “I –“  
Neville raised a finger and placed it on the boy lips. He shook his head, took his hands, and kissed him, feeling the boy kiss him back. He hadn’t ever expected this, but now he wouldn’t change it for the world. After a moment they separated, but only from the kiss.   
“Come with me, my Draco. Let’s talk.”


End file.
